The Chargers are staying in San Diego for the 2016 season in hopes of negotiating a stadium deal with the city.
Chairman Dean Spanos released a statement on Friday:
Today I decided our team will stay in San Diego for the 2016 season and I hope for the long term in a new stadium.
I have met with Mayor (Kevin) Faulconer and Supervisor (Ron) Roberts and I look forward to working closely with them and the business community to resolve our stadium dilemma. We have an option and an agreement with the Los Angeles Rams to go to Inglewood in the next year, but my focus is on San Diego.
Spanos referenced an agreement that would enable the Chargers to become the Rams' tenants when the new stadium in Inglewood opens, tentatively scheduled for 2019. The Chargers and Rams negotiated the deal for two weeks before coming to an agreement on Friday morning, a source involved with the process told NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport.
Accepting that deal allows Spanos to restart negotiations for a new stadium in San Diego, leaving Los Angeles as a fallback option. If Spanos wants to keep the Inglewood stadium possibility open, he must exercise his relocation option by Jan. 15, 2017.
"We are very supportive of the decision by Dean Spanos to continue his efforts in San Diego and work with local leaders to develop a permanent stadium solution," Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "NFL ownership has committed $300 million to assist in the cost of building a new stadium in San Diego. I have pledged the league's full support in helping Dean to fulfill his goal."
Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers was pleased knowing he'll be playing in San Diego next season.
"Everybody, all the children and wife and myself are all pretty fired up to know at least another season and hopefully more," Rivers told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Earlier this month, the league offered $100 million -- in addition to the $200 million loan which is available to all teams for stadium projects -- to assist in stadium solutions in their respective home markets.
"I am committed to looking at this with a fresh perspective and new sense of possibility," Spanos said. "The message is we want to be here in San Diego."
